Catching the Gound
by Phylli
Summary: The hanyou, Akiko, has been used and abused for far too long. When she finally breaks free from her captor, it all comes at an unfortunate price.
1. The Good Hearted Priestess & the Hanyou

Chapter One- The Good Hearted Priestess and the Hanyou

Disclaimer: I own nothing besides my ocs', Miyuki and Akiko. How unfortunate

SHOUTBOX:Thank you to LOLWTF for your encouraging words and support! You're awesome.:)

A newer and(hopefully) better version of Catching the Ground.

Summary: The hanyou, Akiko, has been used and abused for far too long. When she finally breaks free from her captor, it all comes at an unfortunate price. Now she's stuck with a brat, a toad, and a demon lord with an icicle shoved so far up his ass even _she_ can feel it. Can she learn to trust again or is it too late for the likes of her?

"It's been a long time Miyuki," I smiled widely, waving an ecstatic hand at the dark haired priestess. Miyuki looked up from her work in the garden in surprise. She obviously had not been expecting me. My visits were rarely so close together. Quietly I snickered at the fact. It was a special treat to catch the Priestess of Hikon village off guard. I rolled in the fact with a large smug grin. Miyuki didn't seem to notice. She instead turned her face towards the garden once more. Large brown eyes stared at her hands as if they were holding the most sorrowful secrets to themselves. I frowned, confused.

"Oh, hello Akiko chan. You're back already," the note in her voice was off, almost saddened, distracted. I frowned even more before walking forward with my travel bag slung over my shoulder. It definitely wasn't a good day to be sad from what I'd observed around the village there had been no attacks in my absence. No one had disappeared. Usually Miyuki was happy to have a break from the usual duties that came along with being a protector of the villagers. Miyuki was still staring at her hands even as I sat beside her, looking over her shoulder at the pale milky things she called hands curiously. They were a sharp contrast to my own hands. A dark tan that held claws sharp enough to cut through wood, long forgotten scars crisscrossed along the my skin. Unlike my own hands I saw nothing wrong with hers.

_**Ah, hell**_, I huffed as realization hit me, _**she's in one of her moods again!**_

I wanted to scream, or at least smack the vain idiot. But I did neither, being the fantastic friend I was, turned my attention to the place the miko had placed the village's shrine. She knew she could talk to me whenever she wanted to. It was just a matter of time.

The sun's rays beamed down through the trees, alighting all that it touched including the rather large shrine that had been erected ages ago. The air was a bit cool from the spring season and everywhere there was life. Butterflies floated around flowers, while bees buzzed lazily in the wind. In the village, I could hear children playing, singing and doing other things that children did. It was peaceful enough to pretend that even everything was normal. That I was normal. That even if I did decide to walk into that the poor little Village known as Hikon that everything would be just as peaceful as it was now. I laid back with my hands crossed behind my head until I was lying on my backside and was staring up at clear blue sky. A light hum of habit escaped my lips as I searched for clouds to name. There were none of course.

_Well, might as well enjoy this sweet tranquility while I got it,_ I thought as a light breeze came by to tickle my nose with the light scent of wild berries, rivers, and sweet grass. Miyuki chose this time to speak. Her once soft voice was now timid and hesitant. I peeked out at her with my left eye, watching the way her pale face disfigured itself in thought. I grimaced and chuckled a bit_**. I really should tell her to stop doing that.**_ Her tiny lips puckered out as if she was wrestling with a thought and her nose scrunched. I sighed, propping myself up by the arm, looking at her expectantly.

"Well? Go on, I coaxed," with a slight wave my arm. She was gonna say it sooner or later why not now?

Miyuki bit her lip. I could see where she'd left imprint marks.

"Well…"

I growled becoming annoyed.  
>"Oh spit it out already, I don't have all day."<p>

This was a lie of course. I had all the time in the world. I could already see that argument circling around her pretty little head. She ignored it however and took my advice. For once.

"Do you think I'm getting old?"

Her words came out in such a swirl of excitement that it took me a while to realize what exactly she had just said.

"Eh….?"

_**Did she seriously just ask me that? **_I wanted to laugh as soon as I understood her but I knew better than to initiate the wrath of a priestess especially one as mean spirited as the Lady Miyuki. I did it anyway, which earned me a fierce glare from my friend. I couldn't contain my laughter however.

"Ugh. I should expect as much from you!"

The Lady Miyuki huffed as she looked away. The usual ghostliness of her face gave way to actual color as she blushed with embarrassment. She went on in an attempt to hide her embarrassment and anger.

"You never grow up! You're as childish as you were ten years ago!"

I still couldn't stop my laughter even as I rolled onto the ground with my sides in stitches. I finally stopped when she hit me in the shoulder. Of course it didn't hurt. She was _only_ human, and her 'punch' felt more or less like a small tap on the shoulder. However I knew my friend's temperament like I knew the back of my hand. Miyuki was not the violent type under normal circumstance. So I stopped, and sat up, quickly brushing dead grass from my head.

My hands ran over the orange tangles of my hair, struggling through the ponytail before inspecting my ears. Unlike humans, my ears lay on top of my head, much like those of a bear. They were furry and brown and twitched when I was annoyed. Much like now

I shot the now sulking priestess a glare.

"And who are you calling childish? I'm more of an adult than you are," I professed with a puff of my chest. I watched Miyuki roll her eyes. She shook her long ebony locks with shake of her head.

"Oh please you act as if you're four! How old are you really now? Forty? Fifty", the priestess hissed.

I frowned not liking her tone of voice.

"Sixty."

"You see!"

Miyuki howled, and stood in a flash. Her small delicate fingers pointed at me in accusation. _**Psh, as if I'd actually done anything besides speak the truth**__._ I schooled my face into one of complete boredom, the look a mother who was use to her child's foolish antics. It was something I had learned to do long ago when I worked in The Palace. Besides we had had this talk before. It got rather old the _first_ time. When would she understand that?

"You're sixty yet you don't look a day over twenty!"

I shrugged, knowing this was true. You just couldn't argue with it: the truth, I mean. I was a hanyou, a mud blood, half breed, the devil's daughter…whatever you wanted to call it…me. I wasn't natural. I was my mother's daughter and my father's stain. Because of my father's demon blood, I aged much slower than naturally possible, much slower than a human should age. I should have looked like an old hag by now. With wrinkles, and jiggly parts that hung to the floor but I didn't. I was young by demon standards. I would live a long time.

I shrugged again as she spoke but then decided to cut her off. Almost sagely I began to grumble, allowing the tiredness in me to sink in for once. I did not like talking about time.

"You know something Miyuki you care too much about age. You're only, what? Thirty two? You got the rest of your life to worry about wrinkles and grey hair….**when** you get 'em. You should enjoy your life…

_While you have It_, I wanted to say but refrained from that part. It would only sadden me to think of losing one of the few friends I had left.

After that Miyuki would snort but smile apologetically as she realized how much it pained me to talk about time. She had so little of it and I had so little of it with her. For my sake, she brushed off the subject then invited me inside her hut after taking down barriers and we would eat. That same night she would give me a necklace to represent our friendship. I would wear it for the next fifteen years, never to take it off. Watching as my friend grew older, wiser, and stronger.

Then….she would betray me.

A/N: Chapter 2 coming up next! Yeah, you can tell I got lazy as hell at the end. My mind was like 'fuck it'. Lol. Hope you guys enjoyed it. Oh and this is before Akiko meets Team Seshy! So it'll be another chapter or so before our heroine meets the gang. Did you like Akiko? Was she a dreaded Mary sue? Please give me your thoughts! I feed on them like cookies!


	2. A Betrayal between Friends

Chapter two-A Betrayal between Friends

Disclaimer: I own nothing besides my OCS.

Summary: The hanyou, Akiko, has been used and abused for far too long. When she finally breaks free from her captor, it all comes at an unfortunate price. Now she's stuck with a brat, a toad, and a demon lord with an icicle shoved so far up his ass even _she_ can feel it. Can she learn to trust again or is it too late for the likes of her?

_I should have known better than to trust her but I did any way and look where it has gotten me._

"Y-You've been using me," I hissed as I pressed my hand to my side, cupping the hole where the blade had stuck me. Blood poured from the wound, drenching my hand in a black crimson. I could hear as it dripped to the floor, the droplets falling in a muted tap-tap-tap against the wooden floors which seemed to suck it right up. I hardly paid any attention to it though. My eyes were narrowed at the bitch I use to call friend.

Miyuri tutted at me as if I were a child and shook her still heart shaped face. That stupid fan of hers snapped closed with a small flick of the wrist. She began to speak. A dark chuckle escaped her lips.

"Oh, of course, Akiko dear", she pronounced loudly as if she were saying the most obvious thing in the world. The beloved priestess walked forward, down the steps, past the corpse of other unfortunate victims and towards me, her latest puppet. A growl slipped from my throat as I struggled to move, but the necklace she had given me years ago now weighed me down, keeping me planted firmly to the floor and under her command. I could feel its aura, black as her wretched soul pulse inside the necklace and burn at the skin around it. I could hardly wince much less move. Miyuki laughed again, now only a few steps before me. She covered her mouth daintily.

"I never thought it'd be so easy to fool you dear, but I guess you're as stupid as you look."

She laughed again, suddenly so close to my face that I could feel her heat and aura's sting as she dropped down to my level, her hands, as smooth as satin ran along both sides of my cheeks. Her smile was almost ethereal as she rubbed soothing circles across my darkened flesh. The magic in her necklace hummed against her fingertips, tightening my muscles until it was almost painful. I let out a small cry. Miyuki smiled.

"I have to say Akiko, you sure have kept yourself up over the years haven't you", the woman asked as she suddenly steadied my nonmoving head with her fingers. Dark eyes pierced my lighter ones, smiling cruelly at my pain. Her nails suddenly grew. The face before me shifted before my eyes into one similar to the Miyuki I knew and loved but only in shape. The rest of her face was distorted by wrinkles and liver spots, yellow teeth that had long fallen out and a foul odor that could only be described as 'old lady smell'. Had I been given the opportunity I would've pushed the old woman away and slashed her throat. It all began to click.

"So this is your true age," I murmured as Miyuki finally allowed her' true' self to show. No longer was she the beautiful but aged priestess, now she was someone completely different. She was a crone with a hooked nose, leathery skin, wide ugly eyes and hair that was more fitted to be called straw. The once long waves of ebony locks now lay scattered in a grey pile on the floor.

_This was why she was so obsessed with age. She's practically pushing two hundred._

My eyes widened in horror.

_What. The. Fuck!_

"Oh, yes my dear friend. This is your true Miyuki", the old witch sneered down her crooked nose at me. Her teeth had sharpened to mere knives as she spoke. Not even having the decency to look away. Her breath smelled of decay, and fish.

"Poor, poor Akiko. I'm truly sorry", Miyuki hissed as she assessed my hurt/pissed off expression. Her now gnarled fingertips brushed away unshed tears roughly. Mocking my humanity.

"…but it had to be done, old friend. Your youth is wasted on you."

She let go of me with a push that sent me flying back with a thud that echoed. The impact hurt like hell in my stone like state but I made no sound. I wouldn't give her the satisfaction of knowing she hurt me.

_Ever _again.

But she knew. She knew me like I knew my own hand. The crone cackled as she hovered above the stone that was my body and easily slipping a wrinkled hand through her wasted locks of hair. With a yank a single long silver thread came loose. I growled in warning.

_What is she planning on doing with that?_

Miyuki didn't' so much as glance at me, instead choosing to stare at the silver lock that seemed to hold all of her solutions.

"Oh, Akiko! Your youth shall bring me eternal beauty!"

Miyuki gushed before proceeding to take out a knife to cut her finger. The wound bled into the air, assaulting my nose. Then she slit the bleeding finger across the silver hair where it turned a bright crimson. Miyuki turned to me with the same intentions. I was helpless as she nicked my arm and drowned the thread of hair with my blood.

Her next words were nothing more than gibberish to me as she tied the sullied thread to her forefinger and then to my own. I watched from the corner of my eye as the thread disappeared into thin air, bursting into a jumble of sparks.

Almost immediately I began to feel the effects and felt woozy. The world spun around my head and clouded into black smoke. Miyuki smiled in realization, stopped the spell for the ruse necklace. I could feel it lying cold and dead against my skin. I suppose she knew that I would leave me as helpless as before. Damn her.

One last time I tried to protest, but I was even too weak for that. I could only stare up at her face, watching as time reversed itself. In a matter of seconds she was the old Miyuki. She was just as beautiful as ever. Her smile was as sinister as her heart.

A/N:Chapter 3 will be up soon.


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